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Practical botany also engaged his attention, and his gardens were 

 distinguished throughout the neighbourhood for the rich variety of 

 their contents, especially in rare plants and exotics, of which he was 

 justly proud. 



His favourite studies were astronomy, geology, electricity, and light, 

 He took part in the early progress of photography, and in the discovery 

 by the Rev. J. B. Reade, F.R.S., of the method of taking portraits 

 first upon leather, and afterwards upon paper, instead of silver plates 

 or glass ; and also with the chemical means of giving permanence to 

 such images. He was an adept in working with the microscope, was 

 extremely fond of music, and a good player on the violoncello, while 

 in practical applications few men could handle their tools better than 

 he, for in addition to his scientific acquirements he was a good mechani- 

 cian, and many of his turnings in ivory were almost Chinese in their 

 beauty and skilful execution. 



Those who knew him best can best appreciate the many-sided fea- 

 tures of his genius, and will long remember the evenings spent at Well 

 Head, where, although reticent in public, he would converse with ease 

 upon the most abstruse departments of mathematical or physical in- 

 vestigation with an originality of illustration which showed that he 

 was practically, as well as theoretically, acquainted both with the facts 

 and principles of science. He interested himself actively in the spread 

 of scientific knowledge, was an early supporter of the Halifax Me- 

 chanics' Institute, and delivered lectures to the local Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, of which he was one of the founders and for 

 many years the President. He also enriched the museum with many 

 choice objects of natural history, collected during his travels. His 

 disposition was generous, and needy investigators were on many occa- 

 sions assisted by his bounty. As a magistrate he was for many years 

 Chairman of the County Bench at Halifax, and a Deputy- Lieutenant 

 for the West Riding, whereby he proved himself a worthy descendant 

 of a family which for four hundred years had been intimately asso- 

 ciated with the prosperity of the town and neighbourhood. In later 

 years a stroke of paralysis, which compelled his retirement into private 

 life, only made him appreciate the more his beautiful gardens, until 

 a severe form of the malady prevented all mental occupation, and 

 finally terminated his life on the 13th February, 1879, in the 72nd 

 year of his age. 



He was elected into the Royal Society in 1834, and was a Fellow 

 of the Royal Astronomical, the Royal Microscopical, the Geological 

 and other Societies. 



Ernst Heinetch Webee, the third child of Michael Weber, Pro- 

 fessor of Positive Divinity at Wittenberg, was born on the 24th of 

 June, 1795. He was a vigorous, cheerful boy, fond of active sports as 



